The Turkish Directorate
of Religious Affairs has issued a fatwa (Muslim religious ruling)
stating that it's now acceptable to use toilet paper for personal
hygiene, but only if water is nowhere to be found.

“If water cannot be found for cleansing, other cleaning
materials can be used. Even though some sources deem paper to be
unsuitable as a cleaning material, as it is an apparatus for
writing, there is no problem in using toilet paper,” the
ruling says, as reported by Hurriyet Daily News.

The previous prohibition on the use of toilet paper was
established by Qadaahul Haajah, an extremely prohibitive set of
rules detailing how and when Muslim should relieve themselves.
The rules were conceived before the invention of toilet paper or
toilet seats. While not compulsory, they are observed by many
devout Muslims.

Among other things, the rules state that one should say a short
prayer before and after going to the toilet, should not do your
business standing up, and in fact should not take the trip to the
loo at all unless absolutely necessary. For cleaning, one should
use water, three stones, or one's left hand.

Even before the latest
relaxing of the rules, some hygiene product manufacturers were
marketing “halal toilet paper” around the world – featuring
labels of approval by local Muslim authorities. It is unclear how
this falls in line with Qadaahul Haajah, but at least for Turkish
Muslims, any inconsistencies have now been resolved.